The invention relates to the production of an ester mixture comprising 2,2'-dihydroxy-5,5'-dichloro-diphenyl methane, acetic anhydride and higher fatty acids, emulsions which contain this ester mixture, and the use thereof for the protection of cellulose-containing textile material against the attack of micro-organisms.
2,2'-dihydroxy-5,5'-dichloro-diphenyl methane, also known as dichlorophene for short, is a disinfectant widely used because of its bactericidal, fungicidal and deodorant properties, being added to fine soaps, powders, shampoos and the like.
To allow dichlorophene to be used as a preservative agent for protecting textiles it must be in a form suitable for this purpose. Dichlorophene can in fact be converted to an aqueous dispersion, but dispersions which contain high-melting substances in dispersed form have a strong tendency to sedimentation of the dispersed particles. This has the result that, even after re-dispersion, when used on textiles a uniform distribution on the textile material is not guaranteed, more particularly also because the sedimentation takes place particularly quickly in the diluted liquors required for the finishing of textiles. The use of water-soluble alkali salts of dichlorophene is inhibited by the fact that a process for the preservation of textile material is combined frequently with a process for making textile material water repellent or with other processes for improving it otherwise, in a single operation. The substances used for such purposes are, as a rule, not compatible with the water-soluble salts of dichlorophene, i.e. precipitation occurs.
Another method of using dichlorophene for the above-mentioned purpose consists in that the dichlorophene is applied in the form of a solution in a water-insoluble solvent to the textile material. But frequently textile firms are not equipped for the finishing of textile material with products in the form of solutions in organic solvents, since special apparatus are required for application of the solvents and for their recovery, which is necessary in order to avoid ecological problems, and such apparatus involve high investment costs.